Building expert insists collapse wasn't caused by faulty foundation

oge okonkwo

April 16, 2015 12:35 PM

Mr. Folayan stated this on Wednesday while being cross-examined by counsel to the Lagos State Government, Akingbolahan Adeniran, at the resumed hearing of the Coroner’s Inquest investigating the circumstances which led to the collapse of the building

Medical teams attend to one of the 25 survivors who were injured in the building collapse of the Synagogue Church of All Nations in Lagos at Steve Biko hospital in Pretoria on 22 September 2014

Former Chairman of the defunct Nigerian Geo-technical Association, Joseph Folayan, has reiterated that the collapse of a six-storey guest house belonging to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN) was not as a result of a faulty foundation.

ThisDay reports that Mr. Folayan stated this on Wednesday while being cross-examined by counsel to the Lagos State Government, Akingbolahan Adeniran, at the resumed hearing of the Coroner’s Inquest investigating the circumstances which led to the collapse of the building.

The Coroner’s Inquest, presided over by the Chief Magistrate, Oyetade Komolafe, was inaugurated by the state government under the state Coroner’s System Law No.7 of 2007 to investigate the cause and circumstances resulting in the death of 166 people following the building collapse of September 12, 2014, and bring its findings and recommendations to the appropriate authorities.

The state Material Testing Agency had claimed in its Structural Integrity Test on the building that the collapse was caused by a defective foundation.

But reports say Folayan, who had earlier debunked the report, stressed that the 2.2 metres by 2.2 metres material used for the foundation base was adequate for the structure.

“The collapse of the building of the Synagogue Church did not occur as a result of foundation failure.

“There could not have been overloading because the strength of the soil based on the exhibit before the court can withstand that load,” the geo-technical engineer said.

In his testimony, a structural engineer, Oreoluwa Fadayomi, from the Building Collapse Prevention Guild (BCPG), also agreed with Folayan that the collapse was not caused by a weak foundation.

It was learnt that Mr. Fadayomi told the inquest that the collapse was caused by a combination of design and detailing errors on the part of engineers who handled the project.

According to him, all the ingredients for a sudden collapse were present in the structure before the collapse, adding that from the investigations carried out by the BCPG, the columns and beams used for the construction were very weak.

The witness said though the Synagogue Church provided the best materials for the construction, they might not have carried out due diligence on the competence of the building engineers.

oge okonkwo